Here at TreeHugger, we love architecture and design that makes outdoor life more enjoyable, especially when it keeps things simple. And here's a great example of exactly that, from Italian architect Flavio Galvagni and the firm

Yurts: they're not just for hippies anymore. With 2010 being officially declared as The Year of the Yurt by some, no wonder vendors have been popping up left and right recently, each hawking various updated versions of

While following the development of small green prefabs, It has become increasingly clear that you cannot separate the home from the context, and that what we really need is a sort of green trailer park, where

Buckminster Fuller made his Dymaxion houses round because they were aerodynamic and because a circular house encloses more floor area for a given amount of perimeter material. According to the Ottawa Citizen, people are still doing it, for much the

What Ray Spice and partner Sarah have is a lovely yurt with solar and hydro power, a wood stove and felt insulation, on rented land in North Devon. What they don't have is planning permission, and the local planning office calls it a

As the world seems to spin at an increasingly fast pace, there are also increasingly more stories of folks opting to "take it down a notch", slow down, and choose simpler pursuits. Author Nick Rosen has taken on the task of

We used to scoff at yurts as being a bit crunchy granola for TreeHugger, but have become quite fond of them after seeing how light a footprint they have, and how comfortable they can be. While the Mongolians developed the yurt as a form of mobile

OK, yurts are no longer a bad hippie joke; they are light and efficient and a viable alternative to traditional construction. We have shown traditional Mongolian yurts, learned from David Masters that living in a yurt is quite comfortable, and seen

Yurts are almost a no-go zone on TreeHugger along with Birkenstocks and ponchos, but when I learned that David Masters of the Luna Project lived in one just a few minutes away from Cambridge, Ontario, I had to check it out. He actually has two of them

David Masters lives in a yurt. But it isn't just a home, he preaches what he practices in an "alternative learning center that provides opportunities for people to develop and reflect on their values and to consider how they might take an active role

What makes an American designer want to travel to Kyrgyzstan? Where? I hear you ask? Is that where Borat comes from? No, but it's right next door. This mountainous Central Asian country is surrounded by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China.

I always get worked up whenever I write about modern prefab and commenters complain about the high price. However I did a double-take when I saw the price of the Nomad Yurt designed by Stephanie Smith of Los Angeles. She has updated the design in "in

TreeHugger loves green building, prefab architecture and other resource and energy-efficient buildings and dwellings. While most of it is designed to have four walls, a couple windows and doors, there are definitely alternatives to these more

Two Yurt articles on Treehugger in one day? On the heels of Lloyd's admittal that Yurt design is an impressive achievement, we have to bring you the Hexayurt. A Hexayurt is an emergency structure which is cheap, self-contained and easily packed for

I am going to get in so much trouble for this post. First, I go off to the Sportsman's Show, which is all about huntin' and fishin' and ATVs and big motors and guns and ammo and what do I find there? A yurt, the ultimate dwelling for hippies in rancid